Saturday, May 16, 2015

I've really been intrigued by 3D printing for quite some time. My first experiences with the devices left me excited and curious as to how I could use these devices in the science classroom. The timeline reminded me of my introduction to the iPad. I went from the "Wow, holy smokes! I'm sure this can be used to advance and support learning." to "Oh, my gosh...I have so many ideas. I need to get these devices for the classroom." That is my experience with 3D printing. I've read about the advancements in Popular Science magazines, talked with my friend, Jon Jarc about his adventures, and I've periodically checked the blogs and Twittersphere for ideas. This school year, one of my many goals was to secure a 3D printer for the science classroom. I have so many ideas...just needed the $$$!

In talking to another friend, Josh Haplea, I brainstormed some possible science and art projects. I was really excited for the possibility. So, I wrote up a couple grants to try to get funding for this. In the meantime, I chatted up the idea and possibilities of 3D printers with my students, other friends, and my poor husband (who had to listed to way too many ideas this school year). I also looked into 3D Doodler pens as another option. I'm very, very interested in these pens. I even have a GoFundMe Campaign rolling right now to secure a class set.

I read through the manual. Watched the YouTube videos. I spent the first week just orienting myself (and my students) with the machine. I had a couple of students that just jumped on board, reading the manual and watching videos.

We then learned how to load the filament and created our first print job from the Dremel Idea Builder files. We printed a white tie clip for our principal, Mr. Carter. We even programmed a Lego Mindstorm Bot to deliver the tie clip!

Then, we branched out and found a 3D build file that someone else created (not Dremel) that we printed. It was a phone holder. (You should know that almost every 8th grade student that I talked to about 3D printing wanted me to print a phone...not a holder or case...a phone! We had some misconceptions to work on.)

I liked this build because it seemed like the next logical step in our journey. Moving from the Dremel software to an open source file seemed like we were moving forward. This spurred the kids into asking, "Can we create something like this?"

That led us to finding some various web based design programs and some iPad apps. We loaded a couple of really cool apps from AutoDesk. We played around with 123D Sculpt+ and TinkerPlay. We absolutely LOVED TinkerPlay. In fact, we designed and sort of successfully printed from this app. We only got the head to print. (The body pieces weren't adhering really well to the platform. We later added painters tape, and it works fine.)

We even used a web based program, TinkerCad, to create a 3D award for our head cafeteria cook, Dan!

We just keep leading each new experience lead to the next. My students are sharing and learning and loving the adventure. Sure, I have plenty of ideas that could integrate into our science objectives, but for right now...this is the excitement in learning that I'm more interested in students driving.

Our final 3D printing adventure of the year involved three of my students creating the "Ultimate 3D Action Figure" using the TinkerPlay app. They used two different colors and designed the figure on the iPad. We then transferred the file to my MacBook with the Dremel3D software. The students wanted to make a larger figure, so we scaled the pieces to 150%. Over a period of 3 days, we printed various files. The students stopped in between nearly each class to see the progress. When we switched the filament from white to red, it was a big moment. :)

What are our next steps...

With summer right around the summer, I have plenty of time to brainstorm ideas. I know that Josh Haplea will have some great ways to integrate the 3D printer into the art classroom. And, maybe we can even come up with a project that will bridge the classes.

I know that this experience was awesome! I look forward to even more #3DPrintingAdventures. The possibilities in our classroom are abundant!